21

patrons

$67

per month

Magazines have died. Gaming and technology magazines were among the first to go as their readers sought more information on the Internet. As a lover of gaming and technology, I always imagined that these magazines would be available digitally for future generations to research and appreciate. So far that has not happened and it looks increasingly likely that it may never happen, unless people work now to prevent these magazines from being lost to history and neglect.

I endeavor to bring professional quality resources to tech and gaming magazine preservation. I use a large format high volume production scanner with hardware and software to match. So far I've scanned and manually edited hundreds of issues numbering tens of thousands of pages at 600 DPI. Each page has been trimmed, aligned, and edited carefully before being donated to online magazine curators like The Internet Archive, Retromags, and OldGameMags. You can view my Internet Archive uploads here.

As you might imagine this takes considerable time and money, so not many people do it. I could really use your help! For now it remains a hobby and must take a back seat when life disruptions occur, but with more funding I can devote more time and resources. It is a childhood dream to have all my favorite magazines from the past available in a digital searchable format.

The US Supreme Court ruled that scanning books and book-like materials in order to create a digital searchable database is considered transformative and legally protected commerce, Google being the test case. So, you may support this goal with a clear conscience.

You can help through this Patreon page. It is extremely unlikely that I will financially profit from your pledge any time soon. My scanner alone was over $4,000 and the scanning software was $600. Because I'm working with a high volume of high resolution images I purchased several hard drives including a CalDigit T4 20TB RAID array for $2,000. I have also spent several thousand dollars on the magazines themselves, which become more expensive as they become rarer. It may sound like I'm rich but really I'm just motivated, working two jobs and pursuing large projects.

My work consists of carefully removing individual pages from magazines with a heat gun or staple-remover so that the entire page may be scanned cleanly. Occasionally I will use a stack paper cutter where it will not involve loss of page content. Otherwise I will use a razor and straight edge on the pages individually. I then scan the pages in my large format ADF scanner into 600 DPI uncompressed TIFFs. Then I straighten, crop, and edit each image while still uncompressed, then upload finished 600 DPI JPEGs to archive.org inside CBR packages. These CBR files are very large, usually over a gigabyte, but I believe it's worth it given the future trend of high resolution monitors and how much it benefits optical character recognition. Indeed 600 DPI is The Internet Archive's standard for book scanning.

I also rip full ISOs of magazine coverdiscs and make scans of coverdisc sleeves on a color-corrected flatbed scanner and upload those to archive.org as well.

If a publisher does not make their magazine backlog digitally available but nonetheless ask that others not scan it either, such as in the case of Game Informer, then I will respect their request. If only more publishers took such an interest, it would help narrow down the focus to what magazines are truly in danger of being lost to history. So many magazines have already been lost, there is little record they existed at all. So I think this kind of focus helps everyone.

If you like you can also help me through Bitcoin (my receiving address is 1DCQp3uZ7dhojjCjf8rLhVBqpwiEG8A9A8). Philosophically I'm very much on board with the revolution in money that Bitcoin represents and would find your contribution very exciting. I can pledge to you that I will never convert Bitcoin to cash and instead keep it in the Bitcoin economy to help protect your investment.

Thank you for reading this! If I receive no pledges, I will still continue the work as a hobby. Anyone who is interested in talking to me can follow me on Twitter @marktrade_scans or find me in the forum at Retromags.com.

Magazines have died. Gaming and technology magazines were among the first to go as their readers sought more information on the Internet. As a lover of gaming and technology, I always imagined that these magazines would be available digitally for future generations to research and appreciate. So far that has not happened and it looks increasingly likely that it may never happen, unless people work now to prevent these magazines from being lost to history and neglect.

I endeavor to bring professional quality resources to tech and gaming magazine preservation. I use a large format high volume production scanner with hardware and software to match. So far I've scanned and manually edited hundreds of issues numbering tens of thousands of pages at 600 DPI. Each page has been trimmed, aligned, and edited carefully before being donated to online magazine curators like The Internet Archive, Retromags, and OldGameMags. You can view my Internet Archive uploads here.

As you might imagine this takes considerable time and money, so not many people do it. I could really use your help! For now it remains a hobby and must take a back seat when life disruptions occur, but with more funding I can devote more time and resources. It is a childhood dream to have all my favorite magazines from the past available in a digital searchable format.

The US Supreme Court ruled that scanning books and book-like materials in order to create a digital searchable database is considered transformative and legally protected commerce, Google being the test case. So, you may support this goal with a clear conscience.

You can help through this Patreon page. It is extremely unlikely that I will financially profit from your pledge any time soon. My scanner alone was over $4,000 and the scanning software was $600. Because I'm working with a high volume of high resolution images I purchased several hard drives including a CalDigit T4 20TB RAID array for $2,000. I have also spent several thousand dollars on the magazines themselves, which become more expensive as they become rarer. It may sound like I'm rich but really I'm just motivated, working two jobs and pursuing large projects.

My work consists of carefully removing individual pages from magazines with a heat gun or staple-remover so that the entire page may be scanned cleanly. Occasionally I will use a stack paper cutter where it will not involve loss of page content. Otherwise I will use a razor and straight edge on the pages individually. I then scan the pages in my large format ADF scanner into 600 DPI uncompressed TIFFs. Then I straighten, crop, and edit each image while still uncompressed, then upload finished 600 DPI JPEGs to archive.org inside CBR packages. These CBR files are very large, usually over a gigabyte, but I believe it's worth it given the future trend of high resolution monitors and how much it benefits optical character recognition. Indeed 600 DPI is The Internet Archive's standard for book scanning.

I also rip full ISOs of magazine coverdiscs and make scans of coverdisc sleeves on a color-corrected flatbed scanner and upload those to archive.org as well.

If a publisher does not make their magazine backlog digitally available but nonetheless ask that others not scan it either, such as in the case of Game Informer, then I will respect their request. If only more publishers took such an interest, it would help narrow down the focus to what magazines are truly in danger of being lost to history. So many magazines have already been lost, there is little record they existed at all. So I think this kind of focus helps everyone.

If you like you can also help me through Bitcoin (my receiving address is 1DCQp3uZ7dhojjCjf8rLhVBqpwiEG8A9A8). Philosophically I'm very much on board with the revolution in money that Bitcoin represents and would find your contribution very exciting. I can pledge to you that I will never convert Bitcoin to cash and instead keep it in the Bitcoin economy to help protect your investment.

Thank you for reading this! If I receive no pledges, I will still continue the work as a hobby. Anyone who is interested in talking to me can follow me on Twitter @marktrade_scans or find me in the forum at Retromags.com.